Computer Tips and Troubleshooting

Have you ever seen Facebook ads on things that you never searched for on your phone, but DID talk about? Facebook says they don't eavesdrop on you, but many folks don't believe them. In fact, Mozilla (the Firefox folks) is soliciting stories about that for a video art piece.

So funny enough, a patent Facebook has applied for kind of addresses that...

What is a skimmer?

See if you can guess. Here's an interesting video of a trio of guys (yes, all three are involved) installing a skimmer over a convenience store payment scanner. Two men provide distraction for the clerk and other patrons while the third does the skimmer install. You'll be surprised how fast it goes!

Blockchain is shaping up to be one of the big buzz words of 2018. A lot of this fervor is due to the spectacular rise and fall of Bitcoin recently. But the staying power is going to be fueled by investors of all shapes and sizes consumed by the fear of missing out. Just do a search for "investor blockchain" and you'll see what we mean.

So... what is it? Here's the short answer: it's a ledger. Yes, that's right. The world is freaking out over a freaking ledger.

The main issue at stake as I see it is not a hack of an IPhone. That can be done, has been done, and will be done in the future.

What this seems to be is a Government trying to force a technology company to purposely make less secure software and hardware – one of the major selling points and talking points of the last few years.

If this were done – Government forcing Apple to do its bidding – the impact to you would be this: